RATBOY!!!!!!!!!

No he doesn't. He comes across as a young lad who enjoys what he does, is good at what he does and celebrates accordingly without the middle class, middle aged anxieties and overwhelming self awareness and pretentiousness that is so readily expressed on here.

As a point on the Spoiler thing, there were 2 other WC DH threads, that might have been a place to post.
Lots of people spend their saturday afternoons out of the house doing stuff so watch the entire thing on Catch Up on Red Bull (HD too) not a stupid dodgy internet rip off site.

Taking a look round some other sites (Dirt, Pinkbike & Vital) they all seem to manage to tell you there is a story and some results that you can look at without screaming who won.

If I had spent the whole of Saturday outside riding my bike and then came home to watch the race on replay I'd be mightily pissed off if some tool managed to give it all away.

Anyway Rant over I managed to watch it live as it was just after midnight when it finished here.

Oh an well done to him, the interview he did with Singletrack shows how down to earth he is. Genuinely comes across as the sort of bloke who it would just be a good laugh to go for a ride and beer with.

spoiler schmoiler! it didn't reveal who won the race did it!?!?! he would have had to come 25th not to win the champs, and if you'd been following it you'd know this anyway. If you haven't been following why would you care about the final.

Only after the other runs had gone down, it was 4th at the start of the day and considering the number of punctures etc. it was never in the bag. More a rant about the "I'll post whatever thread title I want and **** you all" attitude.

Mike it's not a spoiler, it's MTB news. The golden rule is that if you want to maintain the surprise until you watch something "as live" you keep off the internet. It's a personal responsibility thing.

Anyway how would "Spoiler Ratboy!" be any different to "Ratboy!!!" it doesn't tell you anything in the title and if you don't want to know what happens don't click on it. If it was Ratboy - World Cup Champion!!!! I'd have a little sympathy but as it is, none. You're just whinging.

Congratulations Rat Boy! Met him at North West Mountain Bike Centre and he was exactly the same in person, nice guy. Also saw him ripping up Farmer John's once, which was inspiring and demoralising in equal measure.

Congrats to Manon too! It's a shame they don't get more coverage, they are World Champs in an ultra competitive, dangerous, exciting sport that takes skill, balls and dedication to win.

I'm not whinging, I watched it live. You obviously missed the thread that were actually talking about it as it happened under that title world cup round. Having seen all of the other mtb news sites managed to avoid giving the game away.

Of course I assume the best thing to do is announce everything as it happens.

I'm not sure a Cycling Forum is the best media source for discussing overall standings on Individuals or team standings,

There's probably some one in Kuala Lampur who's not up yet and not had chance to check on yesterday's race results so in the interests of those who need protecting from their own stupidity it's probably best we all stick to discussing diets, carb loading and narrow wide chain rings.

fervouredimage - Member
Sure he comes across as a bit of a pillock,
No he doesn't. He comes across as a young lad who enjoys what he does, is good at what he does and celebrates accordingly without the middle class, middle aged anxieties and overwhelming self awareness and pretentiousness that is so readily expressed on here.

That's a bit of a 'chip on shoulder' answer.

As far as I am concerned he does come across as a bit of a pillock. But then I imagine if I could go back in time twelve years and meet my former self I would think "he's a bit of a pillock". You'd probably think that if you met me now

Anyway, my point was really that although he does the boozing and dicking about, he has knuckled down where it matters. One of the many reasons I like watching the DH is that there really is no substitute for skill and cat-like reflexes. Yes, it has become markedly more professional in the last ten years, but if you haven't got the raw talent, no amount of physical training will get you to the top.

Watching him purr down that course was brilliant. If you watched his run alongside most of the others, you would swear he was going slower, but the languid way he held speed was something else.

Dannyh, I totally agree with your comments re Ratboys run down the hill. He looked slower than any of the others so much so I was gritting my teeth at the 2nd split,

Peaty is Old School, there's no mistaking that, beer Pizzas and No training, he and the likes of Warner were not what you might call pro racers, but then the DH scene in the early 90's was in its infancy so we knew no difference and they were pushing the sport and bike technology on in leaps and bounds

Fast forward ten years or so and the Athertons were marketed as the new wave in British MTBing, clean well spoken and toned, there's no doubting that all 3 could and still can ride a bike but this was a bit of a wake up call because some riders started working out and fitness levels were soon as important as skill and if you had the two then all you had to do was remain upright on the bike and the combination of the two split the field.

RATBOY!!!! Sorry I nicked that from elsewhere,
The next generation, these guys and gals have lived through the Evolving DH scene and cut their teeth on the basics which were serious DH runs 20 years ago. I think the way RATBOY rides a bike is effortless, it's almost like he's not trying, he's a massive game changer and the next wave in Cycling DH. He has realised that he's got more than enough to compete and win and you can see he has changed from last season to this and as he matures he will probably learn the words to the National Anthem, stop showing his arse everywhere altho Peaty still does it at 40 ? So maybe not,

Minaar will prob go ride ENDURO but I reckon Peaty Will end up in British Cycling some where, or managing the Syndicate team first ?

Either way the next few years are going to be interesting, if only to see look on Gee Athertons face

Gee will be around for years, he's Minaar mk2.
Fit, professional and a good skill set... I reckon he has another WC and/or WC series win in him.
Seeing him do the Redbull rampage stuff convinces me they'll never be able to make a DH course that is too much for him and his dedication to keeping fit and strong will see him right for a few years yet.

Also looking forward to seeing Hill back to his best over a full season next year!

Considering Minaar had knee surgery in the off season was wearing a brace for it and got in a fairly serious sounding car crash last week I reckon he's done OK. Not over for him and I reckon he will be back firing next year.

The enduro circuit just upped it's game with the 8 rounds and the brutality of some of the rounds. It's not a retirement village.

I like Josh. He's a young lad who has a laugh along the way and seems to have loads of confidence this year. He looks totally effortless on a bike and seems like someone you could have a laugh with.

I'm sure most of us got up to silly shenanigans when we were his age...I know I did.

Well done to Manon too. She's had a really good season and looks as though she'll be there or thereabouts next season. Rachel is a beast though within the ladies category and will remain as the one to beat.